Duplex-aperture mouthpiece



Aug. 12 1924. 1,504,526

' c. E. STACY.

DUPLEX APERTURE MOUTHPIECE Filed Nov. 21, 1921 15 gwuwvfoz J may-Zea g i'y' Patented Aug. 12, 1924.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES E. STACY, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNQR TO FRANK C. OLDS, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

DUPLEX-APERTURE MOUTHPIECE.

Application filed November 21, 1921.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES E. STACY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Duplex-Aperture Mouthpieces, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to band wind instruments where sound is produced by the use of air blown through a mouthpiece such as, cornets, trombones, baritones, altos, horns and tubas or like instruments and more particularly to the mouth piece for such instruments.

The principal object is to provide a mouth piece with a plunger having an opening of more than one aperture.

Another object is to provide a mouth piece with a plunger having apertures ot ditterent sizes and shapes.

A further object is to provide a mouth piece for wind instruments that can he operated with the fingers to suit the convenience of an operator of such instruments.

A still further object is to provide a mouth piece having a plunger under spring tension and normally positioned for one aperture.

I use a small throat tornotes ot' a high register and a large throat for notes of a low register so that an operator may option ally play notes of either register at will and the operator will have access to the. two size throatswhile playing thereby increasing the ease of playing in the extreme registers.

Otherobjects will hereinafter appear, be ing more fully described and stated in the claims, references being had to the aceon1-- panying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the assembled mouthpiece.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 22 of Fig. 1 to more clearly show the operating parts.

Fig. 8 is a vertical cross section on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2 as seen looking in the direction dictated by the arrows.

Figure 4, is a detail in horizontal section as seen on the line 44 of Figure 2.

More specifically, 9 indicates a tube having a mouthpiece 10, such as is commonly used on band wind instruments.

Interposed between the tube and mouth- Serial No. 516,793.

piece and extending at right angles thereto is a cylindrical casing 11, which projects from opposite sides of the tube with its longitudinal center on a plane with the center of the tube.

The tube and mouthpiece open to the interior ot the casing on diametrically opposite sides thereof. Slidably mounted in the casing is a plunger 12, provided with a pair ot' transverse apertures 13 and 14 constituting low-tone and high-tone apertures respectively, and which apertures are designed to register with the openings of the tube and i'i'iouthpiece. The low-tone aperture 13, is of straight bore and substantially ot' the same diameter as the bore 31 in the tube 9. The higlntone aperture 14 is of a shape in longi tudinal section substantially the same as that of a Venturi tube, that is, with a reduced throat of sn'ialler diameter as indicated at 32, located nearer the periphery than to the center of the plunger 12, the bore of the throat flaring abruptly and smoothly to substantially the size of the orifice 33 at the inner end of the mouthpiece and flaring gently in the opposite direction from the smallest diameter 32 towards the opposite sine of the plunger 12, where it reaches substantially the size of the bore 31 ot the tube 9. The high-tone aperture is thus termed so that when it is in register with the mouthpiece and air is blown therethrough the air approaching the throat will easily tiow to the small diameter and gradually expand into the tube without. swirling.

The plunger 11 has a c nu1terbore 15 in the lower end 16 thereof in which is seated one end of an expansible coil spring 17, which encircles a pin 18 atlixed to the plunger and extending through an opening in a ap 19 screwed on the lower end portion of the casing. The cap 19 bears on the spring to compress the latter and place it under compression whereby the spring will act to yieldably oppose movement of the plunger in one direction. Movement oi the plunger under action of the spring is limited by an end wall 11 formed on the upper end portion of the casing. The spring normally maintains the plunger in an uppermost position with the high-tone aperture 14 aligned and in register with the passage through the tube and mouthpiece. Fixed in the upper end 21 of the plunger 12, is a pin which projects through an opening in the end wall 11" and is provided with a button 23, forming a seat for the finger by which the plunger may be manually depressed.

Formed in the upper portion of the side wall of the casing is a slot 24: through which a finger pin 25 carried by the plunger extends. The outer end portion 26 of the finger-pin is flattened to forma-seat for the finger so that an operator may readily press the plunger downwardly from the side of the casing. .The pin extending through the slot may serve to hold. the plunger. against rotation so that the apertures in the latter will align with the passage through the tube andmouthpiece. The lower end portion'26 of the pin 18 is bent to extend horizontally beyond one side of the cylinder and flattened to form a surface for a finger by which the plunger may be manually depressed from the lower portion of the casing. The mouth 28 of the mouthpiece is flared to provide a rounded surface 29 for an operators lips, and-a rim 30 extends around the flare of the mouthpiece.

The upper wall. 11 of the casing, and the cap 19 are formed with openings through which the stem 22 and pin 18extend, which openings serve to vent the casing above and below the plunger.

The operation of the invention is apparent from the foregoing, it'being seen that the plunger will be normally disposed in its uppermost'position by action of the spring 17 with the high-tone aperture open to the tube and mouthpiece. lVhen it is desired to change to the low-tone aperture the operator depresses theplunger either by pressing the button 22 or the linger "pieces 25 and 26 according to convenience; the plunger being depressed in opposition to the spring and held manually in the'depressed position and in which position the low-tone aperture 13 will align with the passage through the tube and mouthpiece. It will now be seen that the operator of the instrument may change from high-tone to low-tone or vice versa, While playing the instrument.

I claim:

1. A mouthpiece for wind instruments comprising a mouthpiece element, a tube having a passage to communicate with the mouthpiece element, a casing interposed between said tube and mouthpiece, a plunger having transverse apertures adapted to be moved in and out of register with the passage through said mouthpiece and tube, and means for normally holding said plunger with one of the apertures aligned with the tube.

2. A mouthpiece for wind instruments comprising a tube, a mouthpiece element, a. casing interposed between said tube and mouthpiece, a plunger slidably mounted in said casing having aplurality of apertures therethrough, yieldable means for normally holding said plungerwithl one of the apertures registering with the tube and the mouthpiece, and a finger piece on said plunger whereby the latter may be manually de pressed to dispose the other of the apertures in register withthe tubeand mouthpiece.

3. A mouthpiece for wind instruments comprising a tube, provided with a bore, a mouthpiece, a plunger slidable transversally of said tube having a plurality of apertures theretln'ough of (liil'erent diameters, a spring acting on said plunger to yieldably oppose depression of the plunger and serv ing to normally position the plunger with one of the apertures in register with the bore'of the tube.

4. A mouthpiece for wind instruments comprising a casing, a tube having a bore opening to said casing, a mouthpiece open ing to said casing opposite the bore, a plunger mounted to reciprocate in said casing transversally of the tube havinga plurality of apertures of different diameters adapted to be positioned in register with the bore of the tube, means whereby said plunger may be depressed from the exterior or" said casing, and a spring for opposing depression of the plunger and for restoring it to a normal position.

CHARLES E. STACY. 

